Apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles

ABSTRACT

An apparatus designed to separate defective caps or like articles from acceptable caps so that only the latter are available for further processing. The apparatus includes an inclined cap chute which is fully enclosed at its upper end and which has a longitudinally slotted bottom opening at its lower end which is defined by inwardly projecting support members which may take the form of a pair of opposed ledges. Guide means which preferably take the form of a knife edge are provided projecting inwardly and spaced above the support ledges. The caps roll down the chute by gravity. Acceptable caps are supported by one of the ledges as the corresponding knife edge prevents the cap from rolling in toward the slotted bottom opening. Thus, satisfactory caps negotiate the entire length of the chute and are collected at the outlet thereof. Caps having defects are knocked out of rolling equilibrium by the guide means whereupon they fall through the slotted opening and are segregated from the acceptable caps.

United States Patent [151 3,653,508 Tessmer, Jr. [45] Apr. 4, 1972 [54] APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING Primary Examiner-Richard A. Schacher DEFECTIVE ARTICLES FROM Attorney-Fredrick H. Braun and John V. Gorman ACCEPTABLE ARTICLES [57] ABSTRACT R G. t', [72] Inventor aS-Imond Tessmu Jr cmcmna I An apparatus designed to separate defective caps or like arti- Oh1o cles from acceptable caps so that only the latter are available [73] Assignee: The Proctor & Gamble Company, Cincinfor further processing. The apparatus includes an inclined cap Ohio chute which is fully enclosed at its upper end and which has a longitudinally slotted bottom opening at its lower end which is [22] Flled' 1970 defined by inwardly projecting support members which may [2 l] Appl. No.: 65,455 take the form of a pair of opposed ledges. Guide means which preferably take the form of a knife edge are provided projecting inwardly and spaced above the support ledges. The caps U.S. Cl to" down the chute by g y Acceptable caps are supported [58] Field of Search ..209/97, 98, 99, 112 by f cmespmdmg kmfe edge the cap from rolling in toward the slotted bottom opening. Thus, satisfactory caps negotiate the entire length of the chute [56] References cued and are collected at the outlet thereof. Caps having defects are UNITED STATES PATENTS knocked out of rolling equilibrium by the guide means whereupon they fall through the slotted opening and are 2,222,863 1 1/1940 Tratsch ..209/97 X Segregated f the acceptable caps 3,405,800 10/1968 Lewis ..209/97 X 8 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Zl IO -22 Patented April 4, 1972 1 3,653,508

ATTORNEY Raymond G. Tessmer, Jr.

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING DEFECTIVE ARTICLES FROM ACCEPTABLE ARTICLES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the high speed production of injection molded plastic caps, it is not uncommon to find caps having various types of defects. Such defects may be caused by incomplete mold closure in which case the caps have excessive flash around their outside periphery, or they might be cause by mold cavities that are not completely filled with molten plastic in which case the caps are incomplete and have voids in their space configuration. Additionally, caps that are otherwise sound may, in some cases, tend to become warped making it difficult to handle and apply such caps on high speed production machinery. In order to obviate jamming of high speed equipment it is desirable to remove deformed and/ or warped caps so that production delays will be minimized due to defects in these elements. Prior to the present invention, the need for a simple sorting and separating apparatus was apparent but a satisfactory and simple device was not readily available from any known source.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The nature and substance of the invention will be more readily appreciated after giving consideration to its major aims and purposes. The principal objects of the invention are recited in the ensuing paragraphs in order to provide a better appreciation of its important aspects prior to describing the details of a preferred embodiment in later portions of this description.

A major object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles.

Another object is the provision of an apparatus of this character that is extremely sensitive to non-uniformity in the articles being separated such that it will very reliably remove the defective articles to prevent them from being processed further thereby preventing jamming and other undesirable delays.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a satisfactory apparatus for separating defective articles that is extremely simple and has no moving parts so that is has the highest degree of reliability in carrying out its function.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus of the above character that is both simple and inexpensive and yet will materially reduce the cost of inspection as compared to the cost of manual inspection for visual defects which is highly expensive and tediously slow.

These and other objects are achieved by the provision of an apparatus for accomplishing the above stated objectives which comprises an inclined chute having an inlet and an outlet end. The chute is enclosed at its upper end. It is provided with inwardly projecting support means at its lower end which define a longitudinal slotted bottom opening for the lower portion of its length. lnwardly projecting guide means are mounted above and parallel with the support means. The guide means act in combination with the support means to cause defective articles moving down the chute to be displaced and fall through the slotted bottom opening before reaching the end of the chute. Acceptable and satisfactory articles move from one end of the chute to the other where they are gathered at the outlet end. Thus only satisfactory and acceptable articles will negotiate the length of the chute from the inlet to the outlet end.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter regarded as forming the present invention, it is believed the invention will be better understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. I is an elevation of the apparatus of the invention showing its angle of inclination with respect to the horizontal.

FIG. 2 is a cross section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 illustrating the enclosed bottom portion of the chute at the upper end and the slotted bottom portion at the lower end.

FIG. 3 is a cross section of the chute taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1 which further illustrates the enclosed bottom portion of the chute.

FIG. 4 is a cross section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1 illustrating the lower end or slotted portion of the chute and showing an acceptable cap in normal position moving down the chute in contact with the guide means.

FIG. 5 is a cross section taken on the line 55 of FIG. I that is very similar to FIG. 4 but which illustrates another cap being supported in opposite orientation by the other support element.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a preferred cap construction that can be inspected with the apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a cross section taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. 6 showing the cross section of the preferred cap.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The apparatus of the invention is designed primarily for the inspection and separation of defective caps from satisfactory caps of the type illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 of the drawing. In a preferred embodiment, the cap 10 is of the type that is conventionally used as a top on commercially available plastic containers used for storage, shipment and retail sales of household cleansers. The cap 10 has a relatively flat top wall 11 there being a skirt 12 having a generally conical configuration which depends from the top wall 1 l. Apertures 13 may be provided as will typically be found on a conventional cleanser top. The cap 10 is typically made from polyethylene or the like plastic material by the well known injection molding process.

The apparatus of the invention is designed to remove those caps that have excessive flash which may be formed when the mold is improperly closed or those caps that are incomplete, an occurrence caused by improper filling of the mold cavity. The apparatus is also effective in the removal of warped caps as will be apparent as the description of its structure and operation is explained.

A cap chute 14 is provided as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Preferably the chute 14 is supported at an angle by the support members l5, l6 and 17 so that it is inclined in the manner illustrated in the drawing. In a typical example, a chute that is 5 feet in length may be 18 inches higher at its inlet end than at its outlet end. A takeaway conveyor 18 may be used to receive the acceptable caps which are discharged from the outlet end 19 after traveling the length of the chute 14.

The inlet end 20 of the chute 14 is fully enclosed at its upper end in the manner illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawings. That is, the chute 14 is provided with side walls 21 and 22, a top wall 23 and a floor or bottom wall 24. The bottom wall 24 extends to the end 25 as shown in FIG. 2. The portion of the chute 14 between the inlet end 20 and the end 25 may be characterized as the upper end, and the portion below the end 25 as the lower end.

Thus, as will be apparent from an inspection of FIG. 3, the caps 10 may be fed into an opening at the inlet end 20 whereupon they will tend to roll downwardly on the bottom wall 24 by gravity in the fully enclosed upper end of the inclined chute 14. In rolling down the chute, successive caps tend to separate due to their acceleration and this prevents them from shingling and jamming. The caps 10 may be manually fed into the inlet end 20 or a mechanical feeding device can be provided if desired.

The lower end of the inclined chute 14 has a particular structural combination incorporated therein which causes the elimination and removal of defective caps. This structure includes the provision of inwardly projecting support means which preferably comprise the ledges 26 and 27. It will be apparent that a longitudinal slotted bottom opening 28 is formed between the ledges 26 and 27. lnwardly projecting guide means are provided above the ledges 26 and 27 in the form of the knife edges 29 and 30 which are in substantially parallel relationship to the ledges 26 and 27, respectively. If desired, a corner of a solid member can be used in place of the knife edges 29 and 30 although detection capability will be slightly reduced.

In the preferred form of the invention as illustrated, it will be noted that the spacing between the interior surfaces of the side walls 21 and 22 is greater in the lower end of the chute than at the upper end. The greater width in the lower end permits the opening 28 to be made sufficiently wide to allow defective caps to fall through.

It will be apparent from an inspection of FIG. 4 that a cap 10 of satisfactory configuration will be supported by the engagement of its skirt 12 on the ledge 26 as it moves downwardly in the inclined chute 14 by gravity. The knife edge 29 will make contact with the edge of the cap skirt 12 as it rolls. The knife edge 29 prevents a cap of satisfactory configuration from rolling inwardly toward the opening 28. This, of course, prevents a satisfactory cap 10 from dropping through the opening 28 as it negotiates the chute 14 from the inlet end 20 to the outlet end 19.

FIG. 5 is provided to illustrate the attitude of a satisfactory cap when supported by the opposite ledge 27. It will be apparent from inspection that FIG. 5 is, in effect, a mirror image of FIG. 4. Thus FIG. 5 merely illustrates the position of a cap 10 moving down the chute 14 that has been initially inserted at the inlet end in opposite orientation as compared to the cap illustrated in FIG. 4. A comparison of FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrates another advantage of the preferred form of the invention. That is, that caps can be satisfactorily inspected regardless of their orientation when initially placed in the inlet end 20 of the chute 14. It will be apparent, of course, that the chute 14 could be modified to have but a single ledge and a single knife edge in which case the advantage of the invention would be realized but all the caps would have to be inserted with the same orientation.

The knife edges 29 and have been found to be very sensitive to the uniformity of the skirt 12 of the cap 10. If the cap 10 has a defect such as excessive flash projecting from the skirt 12 or the lack of sufficient material or any other defect of this nature, it will be knocked out of rolling equilibrium by one of the two knife edges 29 or 30. This will cause the cap 10 to roll off the corresponding ledge 26 or 27, respectively, and drop through the opening 28 before it reaches the outlet end 19 of the chute 14. Warped caps will fall off one of the ledges 26 or 27 primarily because they tend to wobble as they roll. This will cause them to fail to reach the outlet end 19 of the chute 14.

From the above description, it will be apparent that the apparatus of the invention will allow satisfactory caps to roll through the chute 14 by gravity from the inlet end 20 to the outlet end 19. On the other hand, defective caps will be removed by causing them to drop through the slotted bottom opening 28. Thus, all of the caps deposited upon the takeaway conveyor 18 will be of a satisfactory configuration.

The present apparatus is particularly adapted for the sorting and separating of caps having skirts which are formed at some angle with respect to the top surface thereof. However, it will be understood that the apparatus is adaptable or effective for various kinds of round objects or articles having non-uniform edges which will roll by gravity down an inclined chute. While the apparatus has been described herein primarily in the contect of the inspection of caps of the aforesaid character, it will be apparent that the invention is not limited to the inspection and/or sorting of this particular article. In a broader sense, it can be applied effectively to the separation of defective articles of any generally round or cylindrical configuration while using the principles that have been enumerated in the foregoing description.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it is intended to cover in the applended claims all such changes and modifications that are wit In the scope of this invention.

What is claimed as new is:

1. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles comprising:

a. an inclined chute having an inlet and an outlet end, said chute being provided with inwardly projecting support means which define a longitudinal slotted bottom opening for at least a portion of the length of the chute, and

b. inwardly projecting guide means mounted above said support means to engage and displace defective articles from said support means as the articles from said support means as the articles move down said chute thereby causing said defective articles to fall through said bottom opening, said guide means permitting acceptable articles to move to the outlet end of said chute.

2. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inwardly projecting support means comprises a pair of inwardly projecting ledges oppositely disposed in spaced relationship.

3. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 2 wherein said inwardly projecting guide means comprises a pair of oppositely disposed inwardly projecting knife edges mounted for contact with a surface of the articles moving down said chute.

4. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 3 wherein the upper end of the chute extending from the inlet end is fully enclosed.

5. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 2 wherein the upper end of the chute extending from the inlet end is fully enclosed.

6. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inwardly projecting guide means comprises a pair of oppositely disposed inwardly projecting knife edges mounted for contact with a surface of the articles moving down said chute.

7. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 6 wherein the upper end of the chute extending from the inlet end is fully enclosed.

8. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 1 wherein the upper end of the chute extending from the inlet end is fully enclosed. 

1. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles comprising: a. an inclined chute having an inlet and an outlet end, said chute being provided with inwardly projecting support means which define a longitudinal slotted bottom opening for at least a portion of the length of the chute, and b. inwardly projecting guide means mounted above said support means to engage and displace defective articles from said support means as the articles from said support means as the articles move down said chute thereby causing said defective articles to fall through said bottom opening, said guide means permitting acceptable articles to move to the outlet end of said chute.
 2. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inwardly projecting support means comprises a pair of inwardly projecting ledges oppositely disposed in spaced relationship.
 3. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 2 wherein said inwardly projecting guide means comprises a pair of oppositely disposed inwardly projecting knife edges mounted for contact with a surface of the articles moving down said chute.
 4. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 3 wherein the upper end of the chute extending from the inlet end is fully enclosed.
 5. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 2 wherein the upper end of the chute extending from the inlet end is fully enclosed.
 6. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inwardly projecting guide means comprises a pair of oppositely disposed inwardly projecting knife edges mounted for contact with a surface of the articles moving down said chute.
 7. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 6 wherein the upper end of the chute extending from the inlet end is fully enclosed.
 8. An apparatus for separating defective articles from acceptable articles as claimed in claim 1 wherein the upper end of the chute extending from the inlet end is fully enclosed. 